83 Chapter Six Mastering the art of influence and persuasion An HR manager in a City law firm, when asked `What is political savvy?' replied as follows: To me it means being aware who one needs to have on side to get certain decisions made, who are the important parties in progressing a project, who you might need to get on board, and also who can help you to push forward your agenda. It can also mean being aware of who to not annoy or upset, or exclude from something. I nfluence and persuasion are fundamental components of savvy. It's all very well knowing what's coming down the line and being massively insightful, but if you can't get others to do what you want them to do, then you can't be described as savvy! In Chapter 2, we emphasized the importance of taking a positive, proactive approach. This is critical: you're unlikely to have an impact on events and achieve your aims unless you are prepared to take action. But this is not enough; there are those people around us who, with the best will in the world, seem completely unable to exert their influence. Or worse still, they manage to provoke precisely the opposite reaction. These people are ineffective influencers ­ irrespective of how good their ideas are objectively, other people seem determined to thwart them.